{"id":1537,"date":"2014-09-01T15:39:27","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T11:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/?p=1537"},"modified":"2015-04-21T10:28:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T06:28:54","slug":"7-first-day-of-school-activities-students-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/7-first-day-of-school-activities-students-love\/","title":{"rendered":"7 First Day of School Activities Students Love"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1550\" alt=\"schoolday_first_september\" src=\"http:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september.jpg\" width=\"792\" height=\"403\" srcset=\"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september.jpg 792w, https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september-300x152.jpg 300w, https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september-190x96.jpg 190w, https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september-280x142.jpg 280w, https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september-445x226.jpg 445w, https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/schoolday_first_september-600x305.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 792px) 100vw, 792px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachhub.com\/first-day-of-school\"><strong>first day of school<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0will be here before you know it. Most teachers face the big day with enthusiasm, but they dread the inevitable challenge: what to do on the\u00a0<strong>first day of school<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Every teacher\u2019s approach is different. Whatever your goal, here are a few things to try to get the school year off to a great start!<\/p>\n<h2>Goal: Getting to Know Your Students<\/h2>\n<p>How well will your incoming students know you? How well do you know them? How well do they know each other? How well do they know the school? These are\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachhub.com\/back-school-what-students-really-want-know\">important questions to consider<\/a>\u00a0as you start planning the first day.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re teaching kindergarteners (or high school freshmen, who often seem like kindergarteners), you may need to spend the first day \u2013 or the first several days \u2013getting everyone comfortable. There are tons of\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.teachhub.com\/back-school-icebreaker-activities\">icebreakers<\/a>\u00a0out there, but here are a few different techniques to try:<\/p>\n<p><strong>\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\">\tjQuery(document).ready(function($){\tjQuery(\"ul.tabs-nav\").tabs(\"> .pane\"); }); <\/script>\n\n\t\t<div class=\"post-tabs-ver\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"tabs-nav\"><li>Plan a Scavenger Hunt<\/li><li>Assess Learning Styles<\/li><li>Do a Self-Portrait<\/li><li>Create a Time Capsule<\/li><li>Get Them Guessing<\/li><li>Start with a Challenge<\/li><li>Begin with a Book<\/li><\/ul>\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tThis could involve students searching the classroom to find things like the pencil sharpener or the hall pass, or it could ask them to discover which of their classmates took a long trip over the summer or who has a younger brother.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tFor older students, the first day of school can be a great chance to find out more about how they learn.<br \/>\nThere are many different learning style inventories available online. Find out the many different ways your students are smart by having them complete a multiple intelligences assessment. Have students share these results.<br \/>\nIt can encourage students who have typically struggled if they know you are aware of the things they are good at, and it provides an opportunity to address some of those \u201cI\u2019m dumb\/she\u2019s dumb\u201d issues that inevitably crop up in a classroom.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tWhether it\u2019s done with words or pictures, collage or drawn by hand, having students describe themselves can be fun, informative, and occasionally surprising. Of course, the self-portrait will be most effective if you do one of yourself, too.\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tHave students create a sample of their current work &#8212; for example, have students take a pre-test, write a paragraph or even video tape them reading aloud or speaking in a foreign language. Bring the examples out in June and let students recognize how much they\u2019ve grown. \n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tPrediction activities can be a great way to activate students\u2019 prior knowledge on a topic and get them excited about what lies ahead in the course.<br \/>\nGuessing Game 1:<br \/>\nGive them a series of true and false statements about the content of the course and have them guess the right answers.<br \/>\nGuessing Game 2:<br \/>\nOr do a demonstration experiment and have students guess about the results. If you teach English, try this trick: get a movie of the first novel students will read and show one brief, suspenseful or exciting scene. Make sure to stop the film so that students are \u201cleft hanging\u201d and tell them they\u2019ll have to read the book to find out what happens. You may get kids begging to start the book!\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tThis is especially effective for older students or for classes in which you want to set a specific tone. Since most teachers spend the first day of school distributing syllabi and lecturing about class rules, you will really get the students\u2019 attention if you make them work the first day and get around to that \u201cbusiness\u201d stuff on the second or third day of class. Give students an assignment that will really challenge them. One drama teacher actually starts her beginning drama class by making students do an audition where they read a speech aloud in front of the class. It\u2019s not graded, but it gives her valuable information about the students and it helps them get past their initial \u201cI can\u2019t act\u201d attitude. If you teach an AP class, why not start the first day by giving the students part of a practice AP exam? The students will see them soon enough \u2013 just jump right in!\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<div class=\"pane\">\n\t\tThis approach is especially effective for non-language arts teachers. Find a book that puts a different spin on your subject and share it (or part of it) on the first day. Ways to Use Books to Introduce Subjects Outside Language Arts &#8211; Maybe a children\u2019s book on animals is a fun way to begin studying biology. &#8211; A coffee table photo book might provide striking images for students to think about as they begin studying history. &#8211; For older history students, consider taking an excerpt from a book like Guns, Germs, and Steel; Founding Brothers; or Citizen Soldiers. These books describe history in a different way and may grab the attention of students inclined to \u201ctune out\u201d their textbook. Whatever method you choose, the first day of school offers a great opportunity to learn about your students and set the tone for a terrific school year!\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/strong><\/p>\n<a href=\" http:\/\/www.teachhub.com\/first-day-school-activities-students-love\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"button small blue\">Source<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The\u00a0first day of school\u00a0will be here before you know it. &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[420,38,419,295,1659,40,39],"class_list":["post-1537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-teachernews-trainingconferences-didyouknow-facts-interestingwords-interestingpeople-onthisday-interestingwordsandexpressions","tag-1st","tag-activities","tag-firstday","tag-games","tag-september-2014","tag-teachers","tag-tips","cat_34"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1537"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1551,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1537\/revisions\/1551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/englishbookgeorgia.com\/blogebg\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}